This invention relates generally to wheeled containers, More particularly, it relates to a fuel container for refueling a variety of vehicles.
The invention is particularly applicable to a wheeled fuel container for the marine industry. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention has broader applications and may also be adapted for use in many other environments in which a wheeled fluid container, whether for fuel or other liquids, may be useful.
Boats usually have sizeable fuel tanks because they consume large quantities of fuel in comparison to, e.g., cars, trucks and the like. For wheeled vehicles, it is common to provide one and two gallon auxiliary fuel containers. For marine vehicles, it has become common to provide six or twelve gallon auxiliary fuel containers. However, even these containers are not large enough to refuel a fuel tank of a recreational or pleasure boat, much less the fuel tank of a commercial boat.
One known larger size auxiliary fuel container is a twenty-five gallon rectangular plastic container which is mounted on wheels. This container is claimed to be useable in either an upright position or a reclining position without spilling its contents. One difficulty with fuel containers of this size, however, is that during the summer, heat will vaporize some of the fuel held therein and vapor pressure will build up in the container. Plastic fuel containers have a tendency to expand beyond the 5% air expansion space commonly provided. If the known fuel tank is filled to its rated capacity with fuel and is exposed to the hot summer sun, it may become distorted due to fuel vapor pressure. In addition, this known fuel tank has wheels which extend laterally past the sidewalls of the tank. Such wheels become obstructions to movement and have the potential for scratching or marring either the boat next to which the tank is wheeled or items on the dock. The known tank also does not have the capability of fueling a boat or another vehicle by other than a gravity feed. In addition, the gravity feed spout of the known fuel tank is not recessed and there is thus the possibility that the spout may be sheared off during transport of the tank.
Accordingly, it has been considered desirable to develop a new and improved wheeled fuel container which would overcome the foregoing difficulties and others while providing better and more advantageous overall results.